THE collapse of Russian imports has prompted Maersk and the Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) to cut Asia-Med capacity by assigning smaller ships to the route, reports Lloyd's List. 

The 2M alliance partners will decrease the size of the ships on their Condor/AE 9 service from 9,500 TEU to 6,500 TEU on average, reports American Shipper.

"The changes, which will be implemented progressively, will include: port combinations, vessel rotations and capacity deployment," MSC said in a statement. 

Interestingly, as the trade has been flooded with large new ships in recent years, average capacity of vessels deployed on the Asia-Europe Condor/AE9 service will be reduced from 9,500 TEU to 6,500 TEU.

While falling like other Asia-Europe rates, the Asia-Med rate has been consistently higher that prices from the Far East to north European ports